Breakdown of Hun lægger sin mobil i lommen.
Questions & Answers about Hun lægger sin mobil i lommen.
Danish distinguishes between two different verbs that both correspond to English “lay/put” vs “lie/be lying”:
- lægge (here: lægger) = to lay/put something somewhere (takes an object)
- Hun lægger sin mobil i lommen. – She puts her phone in the pocket.
- ligge (here: ligger) = to lie / be lying (no object)
- Mobilen ligger i lommen. – The phone is (lying) in the pocket.
So you use lægger when you actively place something somewhere, and ligger when something is already in a lying position somewhere.
Danish has a reflexive possessive pronoun: sin/sit/sine.
- sin/sit/sine refers back to the subject of the same clause.
- hans/hendes/deres refer to someone else (not the subject).
In Hun lægger sin mobil i lommen:
- Subject: Hun (she)
- Possessive: sin mobil
sin refers back to hun, so it means her own phone.
If you say Hun lægger hendes mobil i lommen, it usually means:
- She puts another woman’s phone in the pocket (not her own).
The choice depends on the gender and number of the possessed noun, not the subject:
- sin – with common gender singular nouns (en‑words)
- sin mobil (en mobil)
- sin bog (en bog)
- sit – with neuter singular nouns (et‑words)
- sit hus (et hus)
- sit barn (et barn)
- sine – with plural nouns (both genders)
- sine mobiler (phones)
- sine bøger (books)
In the sentence, mobil is an en‑word, so you use sin mobil.
lomme (pocket) is in the definite singular here: lommen = the pocket.
- i en lomme – in a pocket (some pocket, not specific)
- i lommen – in the pocket (a specific pocket)
- i lommer – in pockets (plural, indefinite)
- i lommerne – in the pockets (plural, definite)
In this sentence, we typically understand it as “her (trouser/jacket) pocket”, a specific pocket on her clothes, so Danish naturally uses the definite form lommen.
Danish usually doesn’t use a possessive for body parts and clothing when it’s clear from the context whose they are. Instead, it uses the definite form:
- Hun tager jakken på. – She puts (on) her jacket.
- Han vasker hænderne. – He washes his hands.
- Hun lægger sin mobil i lommen. – She puts her phone in her pocket.
Saying i hendes lomme is not wrong, but it often sounds like you want to emphasize someone else’s pocket, or you’re stressing whose pocket it is. In a neutral, everyday sentence, i lommen is the most natural.
The ‑en ending is the definite article for common gender (en‑words):
- en lomme – a pocket
- lommen – the pocket
Danish usually attaches the definite article to the end of the noun:
- en bog → bogen (a book → the book)
- et hus → huset (a house → the house)
- en lomme → lommen (a pocket → the pocket)
So lommen simply means “the pocket”.
That word order is technically possible but sounds unusual or poetic in modern Danish.
The neutral order is:
- Subject – Verb – (Indirect object) – Direct object – Place
- Hun lægger sin mobil i lommen.
Moving sin mobil after i lommen would normally only be done for special emphasis or stylistic reasons (e.g., in poetry). In everyday spoken and written Danish, stick to:
- Hun lægger sin mobil i lommen.
Danish normally uses the simple present tense where English uses both simple present and present continuous:
- Hun lægger sin mobil i lommen.
- Can mean “She is putting her phone in her pocket (right now).”
- Or a general habit, in the right context.
Danish does not form a separate continuous tense with “to be + ‑ing” the way English does. So:
- Hun lægger … covers both:
- She puts …
- She is putting …
mobil is short for mobiltelefon, and in everyday speech it usually means mobile phone / cell phone:
- sin mobil – her mobile phone
- sin telefon – her phone (could be mobile, but a bit more general)
Both are understood, but:
- mobil sounds modern, natural, and is very common.
- mobiltelefon is more formal/technical.
- telefon can be any phone, but often also used for mobile today.
In this context, sin mobil is exactly what most Danes would say.
You will hear putte in Danish, but there are some nuances:
- lægge is the neutral, standard verb for put/lay.
- putte can sound:
- more colloquial,
- sometimes a bit childish (e.g., talking to/with children),
- often used with smaller things or in expressions like putte noget i lommen/sengen/posen.
In most standard, neutral Danish, Hun lægger sin mobil i lommen is the safest and most correct choice.
Hun putter sin mobil i lommen is understandable and heard in speech but can sound less formal or slightly childish depending on context and region.
Very roughly, in an English-friendly approximation:
- Hun – like “hoon” but with a shorter u.
- lægger – like “LEH-uh” or “LEH-er” (the g is soft; æ like the e in “bed”).
- sin – like English “seen” but shorter.
- mobil – roughly “mo-BEEL” (stress on second syllable; o like in “more” but shorter).
- i – like English “ee”.
- lommen – like “LOM-men” (short o as in British “lot”).
Spoken quickly, many sounds soften and connect, so you might hear something close to:
- Hun lægger sin moBIL i LOM-men (with main stresses on lægger, mobil, lommen).
Unfortunately, Danish noun gender is largely lexical: you have to learn it with the word. There are some tendencies, but lots of exceptions.
So it’s best to learn nouns like this:
- en lomme – lommen (pocket, common gender)
- et bord – bordet (table, neuter)
Because lomme is an en‑word, you say:
- en lomme – a pocket
- lommen – the pocket
- sin lomme – her/his own pocket (reflexive)
- den as the pronoun (because it’s common gender)
Yes, if the phone has already been mentioned and is clear from context, you can use den:
- Hun tager sin mobil. Hun lægger den i lommen.
- She takes her phone. She puts it in the pocket.
Here:
- mobil is common gender (en‑word) → pronoun den.
- The rest of the sentence stays the same:
- … den i lommen.